Antara 27 May 08;
Sijunjung, West Sumatra (ANTARA News) - West Sumatra`s forestry service plans to plant a total of two million trees in 2008 as part of the national movement to counter global warming, a local official said.
Last year, the province succeeded in planting around 1.2 million trees on barren lands, West Sumatra`s forestry service head Syahrial Syam said here on Tuesday.
In 2009, the province would plant 2.5 million trees on arid areas and in school yards, he said.
The provincial administration had provided seedlings and coordinated the working program of the tree planting movement, he said.
The province at present had at least 500,000 trees to be distributed and planted, he said.
Indonesia has at least planted 86 million trees as part of the global campaign to fight climate change.
Indonesian First Lady Ani Yudhoyono recently got an award from the United Nations for promoting the planting of millions of trees in Indonesia as part of the Billion Tree Planting Campaign spearheaded by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Agro-forestry Center (ICRAF).
In addition to the First Lady, UNEP had also awarded a citation to Indonesia`s forestry minister for supporting the global tree planting activities. (*)
